Working fluids, such as lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids, are important components of a wide variety of mechanical systems in which they provide one or more functions such as lubricating moving parts, transferring force or energy on the mechanical system, protecting parts against wear or even a combination of these. These fluids typically consist of hydrocarbon base oil formulated with numerous performance additives selected to enhance one or more performance characteristics of the working fluid.
Current practices for analyzing working fluid products rely on the manual removal of fluid samples from the reservoir for testing in a laboratory and typically pertain to the sensing of product condition, e.g., water content, soot content, property changes, etc. and are certainly not undertaken in real time. The process of sample extraction and shipment have a long lead-time for subsequent analysis and reporting. Such a lead-time could result in equipment damage if the equipment is operated with an improper or inadequately formulated fluid. Simple methods are also required to enable field measurements.
In many industrial environments regular fluid analysis by conventional laboratory methods is a standard modus operandi. This necessitates obtaining a sample of the fluid and transporting it, typically off-site, for analysis. This procedure normally takes at least three full days before the requisite analysis is completed and a report can be obtained. Such a time lag is highly undesirable. Many proposed methods for the on-line evaluation of the quality of lubricants are based on electrical measurements, such as the dielectric constant or impedance of the working fluid, with the measurements being taken at one fixed frequency or a multiplicity of frequencies. Since the best frequency for optimum sensitivity often depends on the properties or operational conditions of the working fluid it is preferred to make impedance measurements at a multiplicity of frequencies. One subset of impedance measurements is dielectric measurements.
Data obtained from time dependent impedance measurements are generally extremely complicated or convoluted. Additive degradation, base oil oxidation, temperature change, water and other polar species contamination, and viscosity changes of the lubricant oil can impact impedance properties of a lubricant oil. Solutions to this problem have been sought, and one such solution can be found in US Patent Publication No. 2005/0035755 (Schilowitz et al.), which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference thereto.
Moreover, such analysis does not include the ability to verify if the working product sensed is proper for the article of equipment to which it is being used. There is also no such systems to provide anti-counterfeiting alerts or additive quantification alerts to the user.
The present disclosure does not require sample preparation, transport to an on-site or off-site laboratory and can be built into single purpose field instruments, as discuss hereafter.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a positive identification of fluid products. This will indicate if improper working fluids have been added to a working fluid reservoir. This will detect human error or product mislabeling and prevent it from causing potential harm to equipment.
Additionally, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide an alert to a user that indicates if counterfeit products have been introduced into the working fluid reservoir.
Furthermore, it is also an object to alert users when finished products have been properly additized.
Still, it is an object to alert users when the working fluid or equipment behavior is not normal versus previous behavior and average fleet behavior.
Yet another object is for the method and system of the present disclosure to alert and/or indicate if the hardware's operation is atypical compared to the average fleet behavior stored in the reference database.
Finally, it is an object of the present disclosure to provide, in addition to product verification, product condition sensing on a real time basis, e.g., water content, soot content, property changes, etc. to assist in product quality monitoring.
The present disclosure also provides many additional advantages, which shall become apparent as described below.